Established 2000

Objectives

The MIDSA initiative is a collaborative effort between IOM and its partner, the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP). IOM and SAMP are the main facilitators of the MIDSA workshops, which bring together senior government officials from SADC countries to discuss and agree upon migration-related issues of regional concern.
MIDSA initiative creates a framework for a regular migration dialogue that includes:

• Provision of a forum in which to build trust and confidence between participating SADC migration officials;
• Promotion of the positive aspects of migration among SADC Member States; and
• Development of regional institutional capacities to deal with migration, while strengthening the capacity of Governments to meet their migration challenges in a comprehensive, interactive, self-reliant and, ultimately, sustainable way.  

Focus

• Migration/Border management
• Development
• Health
• Labour migration
• Irregular movements
• Trafficking and smuggling
• Migrants' rights
• Return and readmission

Participating States (15)
Current Chair: Swaziland
Incoming Chair: South Africa
Past Chair: Botswana

Angola Botswana Democratic Republic of the Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique

Namibia Seychelles South Africa Swaziland Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe

9 Observer States

Australia Canada Denmark Netherlands Norway

Sweden (SIDA) Switzerland the United Kingdom The United States of America

Observer Organizations

• Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat 
• SADC Parliamentary Forum (immigration and labour arms) 
• African Union Commission 
• Others, such as relevant UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations and diplomatic missions, on an ad hoc/theme basis

Partners

• Save the Children International
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
• International Detention Coalition (IDC)

Secretariat
IOM provides technical and administrative support.

Recent Meetings

• 7-9 July 2015 – Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Ministerial Meeting under the theme, “Addressing Mixed and Irregular Migration in the SADC region: Protection of the Unaccompanied Migrant Child".
  FInal Declaration ( EN | FR | PR )

• Technical Meeting “Addressing Mixed Migration in Southern Africa: Linking Protection, Immigration, Border Management and Labour Migration”, 16 – 18 August 2016, Gaborone, Botswana

Previous Meeting

• 30 June-2 July 2014 – Lilongwe, Malawi, Senior Officials’ Meeting under the theme, “Taking Stock of Efforts to Address Mixed and Irregular Migration”.
• 10-11 July 2013 – Maputo, Mozambique, Ministerial meeting under the theme “Enhancing Labour Migration and in the SADC Region”.
• 27-29 August 2012 - Balaclava, Mauritius, Technical Meeting to bring together Southern African Development Community (SADC) Permanent Secretaries responsible for issues of migration and their counterparts responsible for labour mobility. 
• 15-17 November 2010 - Windhoek, Namibia, MIDSA Ministerial Conference on Migration through Regional Cooperation,

Contact:

Sikhulile Dhlamini
Head of Office
International Organization for Migration Mission in Botswana
E-mail: sngqase@iom.int